Board of Trustees

. Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 7, 2019 Mayor Rumbold called the regular meeting of the Village of Walden Board of Trustees to order at 6:30pm. On roll call the following were: Present: Mayor Sue Rumbold Trustees Faith Moore Brian Sebring Larry Kraus Dan Svarczkopf Lynn E. Thompson Absent: John Ramos Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Village Manager’s Report  A few updates besides the normal things I report every week. The relevy is coming up for the people that haven't paid bills. We were working on that last week and will finish it up this week. Every board member has to physically sign off on the tax warrant by the 15th of May.  There was another guy who came into my office with an engineer about another annexation project for the village. I told them where we were at with the comp plan and what the process was. They seem to be in favor of it.  Met with Deputy Mayor Moore and Trustee Thompson in regards to Liaisonships. Will report on that later.  Had a nice discussion with Trustee Thompson and the Wallkill River Alliance and grants.  Went over the final comp plan with the Village Planner for the board presentation, which we'd like to do next meeting. Hopefully we have some time to review a little bit by the next meeting.  Met with our Village Attorney to go over some projects and resolutions.  The OCTC is going over the TIP projects. Also, the Orange County Associations of Towns and Villages Conference about legislation at the state level. Which we actually talked about this weekend at NYCOM Conference. Will report on that next time as well.  NYCOM is doing their second presentation here in the village, June 24th at 6p.m. here on the 3rd floor. We will have refreshments as well. Deputy Mayor Moore: Do we have any idea on the number of kids that are registered for summer May 7, 2019 1  . camp, so far? Manager Revella: We can check SI Play when we go into the room. Deputy Mayor Moore: In reading the reports, I saw that the Treasurer fielded some emails regarding the cleaning of the building. Just curious why those emails are coming toward to our Treasurer? Treasurer Kelly: We just happened to be talking, it wasn't really directed to me. It was just a conversation with Ginny and I was here, so I contacted the cleaner and she emailed me back. All 3 of us were on the email chain. Deputy Mayor Moore: Is there a requirement for the time for a FOIL request to be entered? Manager Revella: There's a law of that's a requirement for a FOIL. You have to give some response within 5 days. Doesn't have to be actual document, but you do have to say what your status is and why we can't get them. And then you have to give a timeframe. Usually, you have to give that within 20 days after the initial 5-day response. Attorney Donovan: So, it's a little looser than that. It needs to be responded within 5 days. I could acknowledge received; it was supposed to give the approximate time as to how long it would take to provide the information. Deputy Mayor Moore: Last time the bucket truck training, has everybody that needed training been trained? Manager Revella: The ones that need it, yes. Mayor Rumbold: The comp plan you're planning on giving a report the next meeting? Manager Revella: Yes. Mayor Rumbold: We still need to set up a Tri-Board Meeting at some point. Wanted to mention that the next meeting which is the 21st, will be chaired by the Deputy Mayor. So, if anybody has anything for the agenda, they can contact her and John, because they'll be doing the agenda for the next meeting. Approval of April 16, 2019 Minutes Trustee Svarczkopf made a motion to approve the April 16, 2019 Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 5 ayes. 1 abstention (Deputy Mayor Moore). Motion carried. Trustee’s Committee Reports Village Offices Liaison – Trustee Svarczkopf Trustee Svarczkopf: Software is on its final leg. Final pull is sometime this week. Haven't had a chance to talk to everyone else. Town of Montgomery & Library Board liaison – Trustee Kraus Trustee Kraus: Spoke to Ginny, she said the turn out this past Saturday was attended really well. She was impressed with it. And the book author, Colleen Venable, had a really good turnout. A lot of kids up there, snacks and Girl Scout cookies. The room turned out really well. She's going to May 7, 2019 2  . work on the rest of the place and update, but waiting on some money and grant. Planning and Zoning Boards as well as the Building Department Liaison – Trustee Thompson Trustee Thompson: Can I just expand on the library since I attended the event? It was very well attended. People from the Bruderhof Community came and explained to us about how they crafted some of the pieces for the children, which were very comfortable for adults as well. It really looks nice. The lighting is not complete, yet, so she's waiting for the lighting. Coleen Venable did show up. She is a 1998 graduate from Valley Central. I know her quite well, because my children used to swim with her. Lovely person. The older kids seem to really enjoy the comic book project that she had going. Mr. Anagnostakis was there and made the rounds, spoke with several people. He was very impressed with the library and the feedback that he got from the community. It was a very nice event. I participated in the river sweep before that. I know it's not my liaison thing, but since I'm involved with getting the water projects going, I decided I would participate in the river sweep. My assignment was Maple Street. It was very interesting. There's a lot of onions in the river. I thought it was funny at first but when I had a 10-pound bag worth of onions, it wasn't really funny anymore. It was kind of gross. So, the thought is that they float up the Pine Island. It was a successful event. I don't know how everyone did, stationed at other parts of the river. I'm sure that will be discussed at the Tin Brook meeting on Thursday evening. The community participated. There were some Girl Scouts down there and people want to know when the next one is. It was really fun, actually. I have been to the Town of Montgomery and brought up conditions of the Rail Trail and the riverfront park because there seems to be a lot of confusion over who is actually maintaining the town parks at this point. Didn't really get a lot of answers to my questions. It wasn't a very big agenda this past week. It was brought up after that town meeting with the new emails that have come out about grant funding, about the things with the DEC, the wastewater management. They don't have a grant writer, we don't have a grant writer, nobody has a grant writer. It's come up if I would ask what the feelings are on our board if that would be something that would be a worthwhile discussion with the town and the 3 villages as a shared service. Manager Revella: I spoke to them; the Orange County Planning Department has volunteered to write grants if we ever need them, for free. Trustee Thompson: I only ask because at one of the water things that I went to, there was discussion from the people in Albany that it's sometimes more powerful if local municipalities have a like need and they all write in together on the same grant. And I don't know if we've ever tried that here. Manager Revella: We did with the Town of Montgomery and Village of Montgomery, when we tried to get a Vactor truck one time. We got denied, but we try. If there's something that comes up, we try. Trustee Thompson: The Watershed people want to be sure that we know that they're more than willing to help too. They have a lot of things available to them. Which if we're part of the organization is now something that's available to us. Trustee Sebring: What time is that Tin Brook meeting Thursday? Trustee Thompson: 7pm at Wooster Grove. Police Department and Justice Department Liaison – Deputy Mayor Moore Deputy Mayor Moore: Talked to Chief several times. Met with him and ran into a few of the other May 7, 2019 3  . officers. Chief and I reviewed the mileage reports, gas reports and vehicle repairs for the police vehicle. The Police Department did hold their night range qualifications that were postponed from a weather event back in November. Now the new gas calculation system is currently in place. So, people are filling up their vehicles, they no longer need to call dispatch. Seems to be working, they were able to track the gas that's being used and the mileage. Recreation & Parks Department and Valley Central School Board Liaison – Trustee Ramos Absent DPW Liaison– Trustee Sebring Trustee Sebring: Spoke with Fred today. The DPW has been busy cleaning catch basins for the MS4 report. They've been repairing the catch basins. They've patched previous water digs. They've had the sweeper out, sweeping the streets. Had bucket truck training and their certificates for the guys that attended. They've been working on the sander rack, leveling the ground, so when they get ready to pave around the area, it'll be ready for paving. The water department replaced 24 new meters. They've been flushing the hydrants, which is complete for this year. And they did 20 mark outs within the village. Mayor Rumbold: I also went to the Town of Montgomery meeting. They voted to get a second opinion on the condition of their building that is going to cost $750 and I'm not sure which account they're taking an out of. I don't know how long it's going to take to get that second opinion or they didn't RFP for it. Their attorney advised them they didn't have to because the amount of money was so little. Mayor Rumbold read the community events into the minutes. Public Comment on Business of the Board None Action Items Temporary Sign Approval Manager Revella One request made for a sign for the breakfast for Mother's Day at the VFW. The Building Dept and Police Dept approved Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve temporary sign. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 30-18-19 – Bond for 2019-2020 Capital Projects Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion for Negative Declaration. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve Resolution 30-18-19 – Bond for 2019-2020 Capital Projects. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Discussion for Section 214-6 & 7 Manager Revella: This is for the animal waste code. Attorney Donovan: The existing code has some provisions prohibiting the collection of garbage and refuse. It doesn't specifically call out animal waste. The question is whether or not, for example, May 7, 2019 4  . read code into minutes, doesn't specifically call out animal waste. I guess we have one or more problems with a significant accumulation of animal waste, so the question that the manager's posed to me is this sufficient enough? I think the fact that have spoken to the Building Inspector, he raises an issue that perhaps it is not clear enough to include animal waste to avoid having an argument in front of the judge at some future date. You may just want to modify this to be specific with regard to animal waste. Mayor Rumbold: This is on someone's personal property? Manager Revella: Yes. Attorney Donovan: The recommendation I believe to amend this provision code to include animal waste. Mayor Rumbold: How do you judge what's excessive? Trustee Thompson: Is 80 piles excessive on one yard? Mayor Rumbold: I would say that probably less than that would be excessive. Attorney Donovan: What we've done is we've gone back and looked at other codes. You analyze other codes that address this issue. I believe that there are some do that. And then I would bring back some draft language to the board. If the board is happy with that, we would move to a local law to amend this. Trustee Thompson: So, this would not be incorporated with any of the pooper scooper? This is something totally separate? Attorney Donovan: I'm recommending that you could do it this way. If you'd rather have a separate provision. You can certainly do that as well. Trustee Thompson: When I first pursued this, I was directed to the pooper scooper law. Then I was directed to Department of Health rules. It seems like nobody knows where this fits in. Manager Revella: It didn't fit in and that's the problem. Attorney Donovan: Seems to me, if it's in chapter 214, which is property maintenance. Mayor Rumbold: Is it the pleasure of the board to have the attorney prepare something and bring it back to us? Deputy Mayor Moore: Just a clarification, it would be an amendment to 214 specifically, not 214- 6 or 214-7. Attorney Donovan: I think I kind of have to take a look at what we wanted, to add a new section under 214, 214-7a or something. Deputy Mayor Moore: Reading 214-6 and 214-7, I really don't see how that would fit into either one of them, but I am interested in seeing what you come back to us with. Because I love what you write. May 7, 2019 5  . Discussion for Potential Handicap Space on Pine St Manager Revella: Have had a request several times from the neighborhood to get a handicap space in that area. Chief and DPW Super went over and measured out where it may fit in. Orchard is a one way and Pine St is two way, but there's bus traffic. So, it may be prudent to put it on Orchard. Just not sure the board is ok with putting a space there. It's where the Temple is. Had a request from them and from a gentleman who has a house diagonal from there as well. Need approval to draft the law to include this area as a handicap space with the dimensions that the Chief and people from the Temple have given us. Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve Village Attorney to draft law. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Discussion for Liaisonships Deputy Mayor Moore: Myself, Trustee Thompson, the Manager met one and a half times to discuss this. We have put together a couple of concepts with the idea of moving away from Liaisons directly focusing on Department Heads, so that the Department Heads can continue to report to the Village Manager. Their reports would then come out through the Village Manager's report. To transition in Liaisonships into a broader area. We've talked about 6/7 areas that that's going to look like. So, right now we kind of have an idea of how we'd like to divide it up. Thinking of some names or some other tweaking that we'd like to do. So, if any of the other board members have suggestions that they would like to put in, please email them to me by the end of the day next Tuesday and myself, Trustee Thompson and the Village Manager will meet again and have a full report proposal to give at the next meeting. Discussion for Resolution for Energy Smart Communities Tabled Public Comment Anita Vandermark: 76 Highland Ave, question about Memorial Day, who is the contact? Manager Revella: We got a letter from Mr. Kirnan, the Vice Commander. Anita Vandermark: It's going to happen? Manager Revella: Yes. It's going to be on the 27th, 9:30am. Assembly at the Bridge on West Main Street. In case of inclement weather, parade will be cancelled, but the ceremony would take place at 10am on the 3rd Floor. Anita Vandermark: Is the Tin Brook meeting open to the public? Trustee Thompson: Yes. If you have anyone in mind that you'd like to bring to attend, they do not have to be in Walden, it's just anyone who lives in the community or cares about the Tin Brook. Anita Vandermark: The garbage contract, is that coming out this month? Manager Revella: We have one more year. Mayor Rumbold: We just advised them that we want to exercise the option for the 3rd year. May 7, 2019 6  . Anita Vandermark: Your Village Website, is that going to be brought up to date a little more as far as the Harvest Fest? Manager Revella: It is. The applications are updated on there. Anita Vandermark: The website itself. Manager Revella: Yes. Cathleen Muller: 61 Highland Ave, Brian congratulations on four years. Trustee Sebring: Thank you. Cathleen Muller: I was here at the last meeting talking about campfires. I was just wondering if anything has progressed with that? Someone mentioned that they thought you could have camp fire in a chimenea, whether it's in a chiminea or open fire, please take into consideration, they all smoke. The smoke does come into our house. With the nice weather coming, more people are going to be having these fires. Manager Revella: We did review it. Attorney Donovan: I can say to the board that the Village Manager did advise me. My partner Rob was here last meeting that wanted it looked into. I was already vacation and I haven't had a lot of chances to look at it, but I have been tasked to do that by this board. I will report back. Manager Revella: As far as I know the chimineas are legal. Cathleen Muller: I know you guys all have the codes, but I don't see any of that in here. It just says that there is basically no burning. And there's no burning with marshmallows next to you or a hot dog. It basically says in the codes, no burning. I hope you really look into that. Mary Ellen Matise: 54 Gladstone Ave, was there a dollar amount attached to the bond? Manager Revella: Yes. $535k. Mary Ellen Matise: I did make a list, sent to Lynn, a lot of water resource stuff. Just a whole bunch of stuff and if anybody else would like a copy, I would be happy to share. I did put it on the Tin Brook Group Site. As I was cleaning up, I came across this from 2009 when Gary Kurtz was still Chief and I'm wondering if we addressed all of their concerns. These were all street turning radius. I know we did Albany Ave, but I wonder if we did some of the others. Manager Revella: We did a few of the others. Not all of them. There are some that we can't do. Payment of the Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to pay the Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Correspondence Trustee Kraus: Resident that lived on Elm Street where the sidewalk was cracked, she is very appreciative that the sidewalk was fixed. May 7, 2019 7  . Trustee Thompson: Couple emails from Patricia Hannigan and Karina Tipton. They're the ones proposing this Climate Smart Community. John you have it down as an Energy Smart Communities. They're 2 different things. So, just if you could tell Dave which one. The resolution is about Climate Smart Communities. If we would be interested in participating in that program, they sent me a sample resolution, which I shared with John and he's having Dave review and then I have the email from Mary Ellen about all the different documents she's collected over the years regarding things to do with the Tin Brook and the river. So, I'll share those at the meeting on Thursday evening. Mayor Rumbold: What do you mean the documents? Mary Ellen Matise: Well, some of them are in the library. Some of them are in the Town Hall and some of them might be here. Trustee Thompson: And some of it was personal notations that she's made from different activities and events she's attended having to do with the water. They're public documents, but she collated them and kept them in a form that you could easily look something up if you needed to. Deputy Mayor Moore: Received a phone call from a resident inquiring why citations within the village were being sent to his job outside a village. Those were handled and sent to the Village Manager, but just wanted to make everyone aware that I was given that complaint. Manager Revella: I thought we had sent to everyone, correspondence from the Arbor Day Association. That we made Tree City USA again. Mayor Rumbold: I have that here from the Arbor Day. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Thompson: No, except I forgot to say that I did have a meeting with the Building Department when you asked for reports. There were some questions about the computer programming. I asked John if he would try and get the Building Department and the Finance Department together to have a meeting. They did that. Apparently, it was productive. Everybody's content. And they're going to be setting up a day for the Edmunds person to come here and present to the Building Dept. Deputy Mayor Moore: Did the fire safety inspections for this quarter go? Trustee Thompson: No. They're going out the end of May. Deputy Mayor Moore: I just wanted to let everyone know that this Thursday night May 9th is meet the candidate's night for the candidates that are running for Valley Central School Board. I encourage everybody that lives in Valley Central School District, please come out and meet our candidates so that you can make an educated decision, at Berea. Wanted to remind everybody that the information is on our website. However, that we are still currently accepting applications for the Summer Youth Employment Program. Children ages 14 to 18 that live in the village and are looking to work for any of our village organizations take place. Applications are being accepted until June 13th and then job fair will be held on June 20th. Applications or more information can be found on the website or call the Village Clerk. May 7, 2019 8  . Mayor Rumbold: The house behind the Building Department, there's been a tarp on that roof forever. Is there anything being done on that house? Manager Revella: That's something that we discussed on Friday, actually. I haven't talked to them since I got back from NYCOM. Mayor Rumbold: Can you check on that and let us know? It's been there quite a while and didn't know if anyone had submitted a proposal or gotten a building permit. Manager Revella: They inquired with us about rehab loan. Mayor Rumbold: I also went to the soft opening for the Children's Section in the library. Absolutely beautiful. I have to say that the Bruderhofs are such wonderful neighbors and part of our community. The furniture that they made for those children are absolutely beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. There is a firematic theme to the room and a little bench made with firemen's boots on the end. The fire hydrant that the books spin on. And Ginny is currently looking for memorabilia, specifically photographs and things of that nature about the fire house, the fire companies that she wants to put on the back wall behind the desk. So, if anybody knows of anyone that has any or is willing to share sorry. Manager Revella: The district was trying to help. Mayor Rumbold: Absolutely beautiful. Very proud of it and they should be. The carpeting is actually recycled carpet and it's in squares, so that if anything happens to one square, you can rip that one up and replace it. It's really lovely. Anita Vandermark: One more thing, tomorrow night is a Community Council meeting and the Harvest Fest meeting. If any of you can come and see what we’re doing, we’re at George’s Fuel tomorrow, 6:30pm for the Harvest Fest and 7pm for the Community Council meeting. Executive Session-Personnel Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to go into executive session to discuss employment history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. May 7, 2019 9  . Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 7, 2019 Motions & Resolutions Approval of April 16, 2019 Minutes Trustee Svarczkopf made a motion to approve the April 16, 2019 Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 5 ayes. 1 abstention (Deputy Mayor Moore). Motion carried. Temporary Sign Approval Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve temporary sign. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 30-18-19 – Bond for 2019-2020 Capital Projects Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion for Negative Declaration. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve Resolution 30-18-19 – Bond for 2019-2020 Capital Projects. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Discussion for Potential Handicap Space on Pine St Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve Village Attorney to draft law. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Payment of the Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to pay the Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session-Personnel Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to go into executive session to discuss employment history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. 6 ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. May 7, 2019 10